# Commercial On-Bill Repayment Program In California Expected To Be Announced On October 2

*Published:* 2012-09-27
*Author:* Brad Copithorne

**[![](http://blogs.edf.org/californiadream/files/2012/09/Brad-Copithorne-Photo1-200x300.jpg)](http://blogs.edf.org/californiadream/files/2012/09/Brad-Copithorne-Photo1.jpg)**

*This commentary was originally posted **on the [EDF California Dream 2.0 Blog](http://blogs.edf.org/californiadream/).***

Next week, the California investor-owned utilities – Sempra, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric – will be hosting a workshop to announce their proposals for energy efficiency financing programs as mandated by the California Public Utilities Commission (“CPUC”) in their [May decision](http://www.calmac.org/events/EE_and_MEO_2103-14_decision_166830.pdf). The proposals are being developed by Harcourt, Brown and Carey (“HBC”) and are expected to include an On-Bill Repayment (OBR) program for commercial and other non-residential properties.

[As I’ve mentioned before](http://blogs.edf.org/californiadream/2011/12/08/california-puc-teases-statewide-on-bill-repayment-program/), OBR programs allow property owners to finance energy efficiency and/or renewable energy projects with third-party banks or other investors. Property owners repay their loan via their utility bill and that obligation stays linked to the meter upon a sale of the property.

Based on conversations with HBC and other stakeholders, EDF is optimistic that the program will be the first on-bill program in the country that funds energy efficiency retrofit projects entirely with private capital at no cost to ratepayers or taxpayers. The program will be flexible enough to accommodate a wide variety of property types, retrofit measures, financing structures and customer acquisition models.

The workshop will be open to the public and held from 9:00am-5:00pm on Tuesday, October 2nd in the Auditorium at the California Public Utilities Commission (505 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA).